We now consider the letters and journals of figures such as Pepys, Montagu, Boswell, and Burney to be an integral component of eighteenth-century literary culture. But did these writers consider manuscript to be “literature”? This panel will examine the relationship between personal manuscript and print publication. To what degree are the letters, correspondences, and journals of a writer continuous with his or her writing for a diffuse literary marketplace? Can we evaluate the form and style of letters and journals with the same approaches that we employ for genres typically considered “public”—drama, poetry, fiction? Papers may consider coterie and pre-publication manuscript circulation, private correspondences, or personal journals, to name only the most obvious examples. Approaches that challenge the opposition between public and private, or between manuscript and print, are also welcome. Abstracts for 15-minute papers should be submitted to Kathleen Lubey by MS Word attachment to kathleen.lubey@gmail.com.

cfp categories:

bibliography_and_history_of_the_book

cultural_studies_and_historical_approaches

eighteenth_century

gender_studies_and_sexuality

journals_and_collections_of_essays

By web submission at 08/06/2010 - 14:39

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